Eight Crazy Hours In the Story Of Love
by AlabamaBound
Summary: Cath is unsettled in her life and marriage with Nick. What happens when she runs away? Really no plot other than that....


This story is based loosely on the new song from Reba McEntire. It's called, "Eight Crazy Hours In the Story of Love. It's definitely a one shot. Enjoy.... I don't own CSI or any of the characters. The only character I own in this story is Tommy....

**_Have you ever felt like running away? Doing something reckless? Sometimes the need to leave becomes stronger than the need to stay...._**

_**It was somethin' as simple  
As makin' the bed  
That kicked off the voice  
Inside her head  
She was smoothin' the sheet  
With the palm of her hand  
When the thought struck home**_

_**"I don't know who I am"**_

Catherine smiled as she watched the kids get ready for school. She was incredibly proud of her family. At nearly seventeen, Lindsay was their oldest. She looked more and more like her mom every day. She knew there would be a day that they'd have to fight off the boys with a stick. For now, Lindsay was preoccupied with sports. Something that her parents were all too happy to enocourage.

Lindsay grabbed her lunch and hurried out the door to catch the bus. Hers was the first to arrive at their house each morning. Before she left she called out to Catherine, "Don't forget to pick me up after practice tonight mom!"

Catherine smiled, but before she could respond, Lindsay was out the door. She sighed and knew that their daughter was growing up.

Their adopted daughter Cassie was the next down. She was sixteen and had seemed to recover from the tragedy that had taken her parents and brother from her life. They'd fostered her for two years before the subject of adoption had come up. Cassie had been the one to suggest it. She and Nick had smiled and gladly adopted her.

Their son was next down the stairs. At eight, he was the spitting image of his father. From his hair, to his crooked and heartbreaking smile. She smiled and handed him his lunch and watched as he ran out the door to catch his bus.

She sighed as she was left alone in the house. They barely needed her anymore. Nick was happy in his career and the kids were so involved in their afterschool activities. She was making their beds when the thought hit her with the weight of a semi truck, "_They don't need me anymore."_

She'd been a wife and mother for such a long time, that she didn't know how to be anything but a wife and mom. She'd loved every crazy, wonderful and sometime hectic minute of it. But smoothing out the sheet of her and Nick's sheet, she didn't know who she was anymore. Wife or mom? Woman or friend? Why did that thought fill her with an unwanted and unwelcomed sense of dread? It nearly drove her to her knees. She loved being a wife and mom. It was essential to everything that she was. Everything that she wold be.

_**And she sat cross-legged  
On the bedroom floor  
And thought  
There's 3 people in this house  
That don't need me anymore  
And she cried like a baby  
In a pile of dirty clothes**_

The thoughts that ran through her head caused her to dissolve into the most heartbreaking spasms of tears that anyone had or would ever have heard. She was sitting on the bedroom floor, sorting the boys dirty laundry, when the tears started. It only made it worse. For once the tears started, the thoughts came with them. Her kids didn't need her anymore. They were old enough to take care of themselves now. That thought had her crying harder and harder. If Nick had seen her, she would have been embarssed crying like a baby.

_**Oh, should I be more care free  
Should I be more sexy  
Should I be more friend, than mom  
And the dryer was buzzin'  
And the TV was blarin'  
And she wanted to call her mother**_

She was too uptight. That was her problem. Maybe she needed to do something different. Maybe she needed to dress more sexy. Maybe instead of always laying down the law with the kids, she needed to be more of a friend to them. Laugh more and joke around them.

She heard the dryer's buzzer going off. The sound of the TV was like a white noise somewhere in the background. She had the strongest urge to call her mom. She knew that she couldn't do that though. Lily would surely think that she'd lost her mind. Everyone thought that she had the perfect marriage. The perfect life. Hell, she'd thought that until this morning. What had turned that switch on? Why was she having all of these thoughts about running away?

_**It was somethin' as simple  
As checkin' in to that cheap motel  
Out on Highway 10  
Was it the sting of leavin'  
Or usin' her maiden name  
That took all of the fun  
Out of runnin' away  
And she cried like a baby  
In the tub of room 5**_

She sat in the tub and the only thing she could think of was how terrible it felt to be here. She made the decision to leave in a haste. Instead of making her feel better, it only served to make her feel worse. Infinitely worse. She was ashamed that she'd used her maiden name. Did she had her life that much? That she was willing to deny all of the years that she and Nick had been married? She'd thought that running away would be fun. Fun? How could laying in a tub in a cheap motel be considered fun. Once again the tears rolled down her cried like a baby there in that tiny cramped tub. What one earth was happening to her. She was happy with her life. Wasn't she?

_**Oh, should I be more care free  
Should I be more sexy  
Should I be more friend, than mom  
And her head was buzzin'  
And the TV was blarin'  
And she wanted to call her husband**_

She'd wanted to be free. She wanted to be like the women that she saw on tv. She wanted to know what it was like to be friends with your kids instead of having to be the bad guy all the time. She wanted Nick to look at her like he had all those years ago. Not as a wife and mother, but as a woman that he was in love with. She knew that he still loved her, but a small part of her brain was telling her that she needed to change herself to keep his love. The tv blared in the background. Some tv show that she would soon forget was on. She suddenly had the strangest urge to call Nick. She knew that she couldn't call him though. He most definitely wouldn't understand what she was going through. How could he? She didn't even understand it herself.

_**It was somethin' as simple  
As pickin' up the kids  
That her back to Earth again  
She'd been to the dark side of the moon  
She had to keep it to herself  
So she grabbed a bucket of chicken, for supper**_

She waited outside the gym for the kids to come outside. Lindsay was first. Followed soon by Cassie. She smiled as the two girls chatted happily about their day. She listened to them more as she drove to pick up Tommy. She even laughed a few times when the girls made jokes about something that happened that day.

Lindsay smiled at her and said, "Are you okay mom?"

Catherine looked at ther and said, "I'm fine sweetheart. Why?"

"I don't know. You seem different."

Catherine simply shook her head and said, "I'm fine."

Lindsay gave her mom a strange look, but didn't say anything. Tommy got into the car and Lindsay said, "Hey squirt. How was your day?"

"Good Linds. Guess what mom?"

"What?"

"The coach is going to start me in the next game."

"No way?"

"Way!! Do you think dad will be happy?"

Catherine smiled and said, "I know he will be. Just wait until he gets home."

Tommy smiled and they stopped to grab some chicken and all the fixings on the way home. This was what being a mom was all about. The little moments made her life worthwhile. The chatted happily on the way home.

_**Oh, but she looked more care free  
And she looked more sexy  
And she looked more friend than mom  
And the table talk was buzzin'  
And the TV, it was blarin'  
And they all sat and laughed at each other**_

She kept catching Nick's eyes at dinner that night. She couldn't help but notice the way that he kept looking at her. She wondered if he knew. Then she realized that he didn't, but she felt more sexy than she had in a long time. Just from the looks and smiles he was giving her.

Even the kids noticed a difference in the way that she acted. They seemed more exctied about telling her stories of their day. More like a friend than a mom. The talk around the table that night was more thrilling than she'd ever remembered before. Or maybe it was just her imagination. She couldn't be sure. The tv was blaring in the background. She barely heard it because of all the laughter going around the table.

_**It was somethin' as simple  
As not givin' up  
And eight crazy hours  
In the story of love**_

She knew that the brief moment of insanity was something that changed her life forever. She was flad for it. It was the most important eight hours of her life. The most important eight crazy hours in the story of her and Nick's love affair.....


End file.
